When you spend enough time on the internet, as I have, you aren't really surprised by all that much. This is especially true when it comes to racist and homophobic commentary. Sure, we've all heard misinformation, such as how homosexuality is immoral and how all homosexuals are walking disease factories. But, did you know that homosexual men are ice cream machines? Well, they are according to Martin Ssempa(a man, who has thoroughly ruined chocolate ice cream, forever). The video posted above, which was sent to me by a dear friend, is utterly shocking. The thing that is so shocking about it isn't the sexual act itself, but rather Martin's total obsession with it. The man really likes his chocolate ice cream, methinks.
Now, Martin's fecal fascination aside, the man is on an all out crusade to destroy homosexuality in Uganda. He is endorsing legislation that would increase the penalties for homosexuality(it's already a criminal act in most of sub-Saharan Africa) and it would also make homosexuality a crime worthy of death. That's right, death. The proposed bill even contains a contingency for Ugandans that engage in homosexual acts outside of the borders of the country. This provision also includes penalties for individual citizens, companies, or media organizations that support LGBT rights. It's a rather totalitarian piece of legislation to say the least. So, it's not surprising that American Christians had a part to play in it.
As if this weren't bad enough, Martin has a little obsession with burning condoms. On a continent where the battle against AIDS is being waged full scale, the man burns condoms. This prophylactic that has been proven, time and time again, to protect against the spread of sexually transmitted disease. They are indispensable for safe sex in any situation, but especially when it comes to HIV. Yet, he burns them and would rather teach people abstinence and to be faithful. Certainly, there's no doubt that abstaining from sex prevents sexually transmitted diseases, but to deny human nature so completely is totally ludicrous. People are going to have sex, plain and simple, but when you leave out condoms, it's guaranteed not to be safe sex.
After all, we know how well abstinence only sex educations programs work(that is, not at all). When you not only deny condoms, but burn them, in a country in desperate need of effective prophylactics, you're committing murder. It's no different than the Pope's lies about the efficacy of condom usage. When it comes right down to it, at the end of the day, you're responsible for those lives that your actions destroyed.
Homosexuals aren't immoral and most certainly not monsters. They're human beings, with feelings, hopes, dreams, and passions, the same as any of us. There is no homosexual agenda any more than there was a black agenda during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. They simply want the same respect and rights that any of us want. Color, creed, sexual orientation, or the size of your bank account shouldn't be factors in what rights you have. Most of all, you absolutely shouldn't be punished for something that is a product of your biology and out of your control.
We don't choose our parents, country, sexual orientation, color, or so many of the things that we are. What we do choose though, is how we treat one another in this spectacularly short life of ours. We can choose to rise above petty differences. We can choose to face life with courage and conviction, rather than cowardice and hate. These are the choices that we have and we should be judged, instead, as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, by the content of our character.
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